confidering either the ftate of population or the uncertain and precarious tenures under their feudal lords. But when Britons have long fince wrefted, from their petty monarchs, the property of the foil, together with the invaluable privilege of tranfmitting their improvements from father to fon, that a custom fo injurious to the community, as well as to the individual, should still continue;

pudet hæc opprobria nobis "Et dici potuiffe, et non potuiffe refelli."

After the Tin is thus partly dreffed in the raifing of it, they carry it to grafs; and when a competent quantity is collected, they proceed to drefs it for blowing. There are several ways of dreffing this kind of Tin; but the general method is, to make what they call a Gounce, which is nothing more than a fmall tie before defcribed, and what we call in the Mining parts a Strêke, in which the fmaller tin is washed over again as was done before in the tye, but with a lefs current of water, and a larger degree of care and caution, left the Tin be carried off with it. The richer part of the Tin, as before mentioned, lies nearest the head of the gounce, which is carefully taken up, divided, or kept feparate, according to its goodness, and put into large vats or kieves; while the wafte that lies in the hinder part of the gounce, is dreffed over again, till all the Tin is taken out, and the remaining wafte becomes abfolute refuse. The Tin is then fifted through wood or wire fieves, whereby the greater particles are divided from the smaller; by this method, likewise, the wafte from its levity lies uppermoft in the fieve, which is carefully skimmed off, and laid afide to work over again. The smallest Tin which paffes through the wire fieve, is put into another finely weaved horse-hair fieve, called a Dilluer, which and the skill of the workman, it is made merchantable. Some of the nodules or lumps of Tin are blowed or fmelted as they come out of the tie; but those which are mixed with wafte, are put with the refufe of the garde and poor Tin, which were in the tails of the tye and gounce, and being fent to the stamping mill, are triturated and pulverifed, so that all waste may be cleared from the Tin by fundry ablutions, the fame as are performed in the dreffing of Mine-Tin.

Befides these Stream works, we have another fort of them occafioned by the refufe and leavings from the ftamping mills, &c. which are carried by the rivers down to the lower grounds;

and

and after fome years lying and collecting there, yield fome money to the laborious dreffers, whom they diftinguish by the name Lappiors, I fuppofe from the Cornifh word Lappior, which fignifying a Dancer, is applied to them, from the boys and girls employed in this work, and moving up and down in the buddles, to feparate the Tin from the refufe, with naked feet like to the ancient Dancers. I have been told, that about feventy years back, the low lands and fands under Perran Arwothall, which are covered almoft every tide with the fea, have, on its going off, employed fome hundreds of poor men, women, and children, incapable of earning their bread by any

other means.

To return :

Stream Tin being prepared and made ready for blowing with a charcoal fire, is carried to the blaft furnace, which is called a Blowing-Houfe; where, formerly, the Tinner might have his Tin blown, paying the owner of the house twenty fhillings for every tide or twelve hours, for which the blower was obliged to deliver to the Tinner, at the ensuing coinage, one hundred grofs weight of white Tin for every three feet, or one hundred and eighty pounds of Stream Tin fo blown; which is equal to fourteen pounds of Metal for twenty of Mineral, clear of all expence. Now, that the blowing-houfes are farmed, the Tin is usually blown and fold by fample, as the Mine-Tin is at the reverberatory furnaces.

The furnace itself for blowing the Tin, is called the Castle, on account of its strength, being of maffive ftones cramped together with Iron to endure the united force of fire and air. This fire is made with charcoal excited by two large bellows, which are worked by a water wheel, the fame as at the Iron forges. They are about eight feet long, and two and a half wide at the broadest part. The fire place, or caftle, is about fix feet perpendicular, two feet wide in the top part each way, and about fourteen inches in the bottom, all made of moorstone and clay, well cemented and cramped together. The pipe or nose of each bellows is fixed ten inches high from the bottom of the castle, in a large piece of wrought Iron, called the Hearth-Eye. The Tin and charcoal are laid in the caftle, ftratum fuper ftratum, in fuch quantities as are thought proper; so that from eight to twelve hundred weight of Tin, by the confumption of eighteen to twenty-four fixty gallon packs of charcoal, may be fmelted in a tide or twelve hours time. Those bellows are not only useful for igniting the charcoal, but they throw in a steady and

powerful

To the Revd Francis Cole, this Plan of NORTH DOWNS MINE in the Parish of Redruth Cornwall.
Engraved at his expouce is most gratefully Inscribed by W.-Pryce :

Basire &c.

powerful air into the caftle; which, at the fame time that it fmelts the Tin, forces it out also through a hole at the bottom of the castle, about four inches high, and one inch and a half wide, into a moorstone trough fix feet and a half high, and one foot wide, called the Float; whence it is laded into leffer troughs or moulds, each of which contains about three hundred of Metal, called Slabs, Blocks, or Pieces of Tin, in which fize and form it is fold in every market in Europe; and on account of its fuperior quality is known by the name of Grain Tin, which brought a price formerly of feven fhillings, that is further advanced, the laft two or three years, to ten or twelve fhillings

hundred more than Mine Tin is fold for, because it is smelted from a pure Mineral by a charcoal fire; whereas Mine Tin is ufually corrupted with fome portion of Mundick, and other Minerals, and is always fmelted with a bituminous fire, which communicates a harsh fulphureous injurious quality to the Metal.

CHA P. III.

Of Bounds and the Manner of taking a Set or Grant for Mining; of Sinking of Shafts, Driving of Adits, Digging and Raising of Ores, and Working the Mines, &c.

PR

REVIOUS to the working of a Tin Mine, a Grant or liberty must first be procured from the lord of the foil, if it is in Several and not bounded; but if the ground is in Wastrel and bounded, no liberty from the lord is necessary, but from the Bounder only. These Bounds are limited portions or pieces of land, enjoyed by the owners of them in respect of Tin only; and by virtue of an ancient prescription or liberty for encouragement to the Tinners. They are limited by holes cut in the turf, and the foil turned back upon the turf which is cut, in form of a mole hill, and directly facing another of the like kind; these are called Corners of the Bounds, containing fometimes an acre, fometimes more, and often lefs. By drawing ftraight lines from the Corners, the extent of thefe Bounds is determined; in like manner as in geometry, by drawing ftraight lines from three or four points, the extent of a triangular or quadrangular fuperficies is known.